Wackenhut to lose 3rd largest client?

Wackenhut is now extremely unlikely to retain its Australian client, the Department of Immigration, following intense political and public outcry over the contract in Australia. This contract was cited in WHC's 2000 10K return as its third largest client globally (revenues some 11% of global revenues, or about $46 million).

The pressure is coming on the contract following:

1. A cabinet meeting of the powerful opposition party, the Australian Labor party, has called on the Wackenhut contract to be scrapped and replaced by national management of the detention centres. This meeting, held 12 February, has received huge daily coverage, because the government's policy on immigration detainees requires the support of the Labor opposition. The Wackenhut contract looks set to become the bargaining chip.2. A concerted campaign against the detention centres, now being led by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Amnesty International and Oxfam, with even the Pope expressing his " deep disquiet" over the detention centre run by Wackenhut.

The politics of the contract has become too hot for the Australian governemnt. Not a hope in hell that Wackenhut will keep this one.

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